Murder Drones
Entry updated 7 April 2025. Tagged: TV.
Australian CGI animated webseries (2021-2024). Glitch. Created, directed and written by Liam Vickers. Voice cast includes Allanah Fitzgerald, Shara Kirby, Nola Klop, Michael Kovach, Elsie Lovelock, Darcy Maguire and Daisy Rose. Eight episodes of 17-27 minutes. Colour.
This series was released on YouTube, with the pilot having had 53 million views since October 2021 (as of early September 2024) and the finale 16 million in its first two weeks.
In 3071, we are told the people mining exoplanet Copper 9 are wiped out when its core collapses (see Disaster), with the surviving Robot worker drones then building their own society, which mimics that of humanity (see Sociology): the parent company, JC Jensen, considers them runaway AI and has dispatched Disassembly Drones – called by their victims Murder Drones – to terminate them. The worker drones flee Underground, building protective doors to keep the killers out and to cower behind ... all save angsty teen Uzi (Lovelock), who is building a railgun (see Weapons) "to save the world with it and earn my dad's respect and stuff". Visiting the surface to acquire the final part she gets the opportunity to test the gun, blowing the head off of N (Kovach), one of a trio of Murder Drones in the area – the others being V (Klop) and J (Kirby). The head promptly grows back (see Regeneration) – but N is left disorientated and befriends Uzi, who suggests it is likely the company will dispose of the Murder Drones once their job is done. N is eventually swayed; V also becomes, very reluctantly, an ally.
Murder Drones possess an "Absolute Solver" computer programme (see AI) which regenerates any damage they suffer: side effects include the need to drink oil from slaughtered drones and not liking sunlight (see Vampires). It turns out the Absolute Solver is something more than a repair system, but rather an AI level virus; not unrelated to this (see below), Uzi finds she has Superpowers. After a series of episodes which nod to various sf and Horror movies – including Alien (1979), Carrie (1976), Friday the 13th (1980) and Jurassic Park (1993) (there are robot Dinosaurs) – the Absolute Solver is defeated, though seemingly contained rather than destroyed.
As these events unfold we learn the backstory. Years ago, despite her wealthy parents' disapproval, the human Tessa James Elliot (Rose) would befriend drones and refurbish discarded ones; N, V, J being three such – and Cyn (Fitzgerald) a fourth. The latter had accidentally rebooted when her disassembly was botched, becoming a "Zombie drone", then later the initial host of the Absolute Solver – possibly a mutation of her damaged AI. With a grudge against humanity it is able to manipulate reality at a molecular level, including creating singularities (see Black Holes) to destroy the Earth and its colonized planets; it can also infect other machines to create avatars. Though the Solver uses Cyn's body and unnerving voice, and Tessa arrives on Copper 9 in episode 3, both are long dead, with the latter's corpse now being worn by the Solver-as-Cyn: unaware of this – Tessa being in a spacesuit – N and Uzi assume she is an ally, if a little unhinged. Uzi learns her new abilities were inherited from her mother, Nori (Maguire): it turns out that Copper 9 was the last redoubt of humanity, desperately seeking a way to defeat the Solver. To do this they deliberately infected drones – one being Nori – as experimental subjects: this enabled the Solver to have Nori collapse the core. Though believed dead, Uzi's mother survived, changed but – due to a patch belatedly developed by Scientists – no longer controlled by the Solver (locating the patch technology becomes a plot thread).
Though their designs are identical, the worker drones display their individuality through clothing, wigs and false moustaches (see Identity, Gender); they are able to reproduce by uploading their code into their offspring (which might account for why Uzi and Nori's personalities are so similar). In terms of story, there was clearly a rethink between the pilot and rest of the series – for example, in the role of JC Jensen. The animation starts off very good and gets better, particularly the forms taken by the Absolute Solver, which comfortably slip into nightmare-fuel territory (see Horror); the atmosphere and action scenes are skilfully done. Murder Drones is extremely violent (much oil is spilt), though the drones' somewhat obtuse reactions have a distancing effect on the viewer. The series is also remarkably funny, with a gripping and richly detailed plot. Some might find the need to have their finger continually hovering over the pause button (so as to read barely glimpsed documents that happens to contain vital worldbuilding information) a little off-putting; for others this piecing together of the backstory is part of the fun. The characterization is strong, with Uzi and N being very likeable, whilst the voice and mannerisms of the Solver as Cyn are memorably creepy. Also, Dogs were saved and made Immortal. Murder Drones can be considered one of the classic animated sf series. [SP]
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